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Jefferson East Visiting Guide

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Here's Model D's guide to visiting Jefferson East. Also check out our guides to moving to and investing in the riverfront neighborhood.

From this neighborhood on Detroit’s eastern edges you can turn
toward downtown and see the glass towers of General Motors rising in
the distance. You can turn the other way and see leafy Grosse Pointe
Park. You are in Jefferson East, a neighborhood nestled in between
rapidly-expanding downtown and one of the most established old suburbs
in the nation.

It’s in Jefferson East where you can stand elbow to elbow with fishing rods dangled over the river at Mariners Park or Windmill Point, exercise in the sports fields at Maheras-Gentry Park, then jump up a few blocks to Ye Olde Tap Room on Charlevoix for a pint of English Ale.

This
is not a cultural center or much of an entertainment mecca, though it
has a rich history of hosting big band jazz and other ballroom events.
Jefferson East is a village striving to define its place along one of
Detroit’s main streets, with its linkage to Grosse Pointe to the east
becoming increasingly more evident. In fact, despite years of division
along the Detroit-Grosse Pointe Park border — an area known as “little
Grosse Pointe” because of the similarity of its housing and retail
architecture — some common ground is being scratched out. The riverside
parks at the foot of Alter are still clearly divided municipal
boundaries, yet the differences are becoming blurred by changes in the
neighborhood. A little touch of Jefferson East might be in Grosse
Pointe Park’s M’Dear’s Creole Cooking, a restaurant owned by
Detroiters.

Street entertainment

Elders
on both sides of the line will remember the Vanity and Monticello
ballrooms. The Vanity, a celebrated art deco gem, sits empty at the
corner of Newport and Jefferson, last used briefly as a rock venue in
the 1980s. But new life is flickering at the Monticello Ballroom, at
Marlborough and Jefferson, where the street level of the building has
been reconditioned for retail use. There has also been rehab work on
the second floor ballroom, where big band jazz performers and dancers
began swinging over 75 years ago. There’s growing evidence that people
will come for entertainment, when given the reason to come. Jazzin’ on Jefferson, a music festival produced by the Jefferson East Business Association
(JEBA, and now in its third year, was created to draw attention to the
area. The festival also showcases local restaurants and businesses.

“The
whole backdrop (to the festival) is the street itself,” says Chris
Garland, who manages the festival for JEBA. The Vanity and Monticello
ballrooms, the storefronts, the churches “become the framework for the
event. For a lot of people it’s not uncommon for them to tell me after
the event, ‘Gosh, I didn’t realize how fabulous the structures on East
Jefferson really are.’ Even if they don’t make a leap like that and
folks just have a nice day, that’s fine too.”

Held on the last weekend of June, the festival books national acts
to draw a crowd, but it also features local talent. More importantly,
thousands of new visitors come into the area, and neighbors get a
chance to socialize on the Historic Jefferson East Business District.

Hope identified

When it comes to spiritual renewal, what more significant church
could find its destination in Jefferson East than one called Hope? And
not just on Sundays. The evangelical congregation is a destination
throughout the week. When Hope Community Church
recently moved into the former Jefferson Avenue Methodist Church it was
a “massive investment not only in cash but a risk for the new and
youthful growing church,” Garland says. The congregation was primarily
suburban, coming from as far away as Northville and West Bloomfield.
While the perception of a dangerous Detroit didn’t stop the
congregation from moving in, the distance could have. But Hope
identified with Jefferson East immediately.When members of the
church’s congregation began researching the area “they became very
excited about being in a community that’s active,” Garland says.

Out of respect for the church — and other churches — JEBA decided not to have the festival on Sunday.“We
knew we wanted to do it on two days,” says Garland. “In a very real way
it was related to the fact that we had a half-dozen churches in the
area. Did we want to disrupt them on their one day of the week? Or, do
you specifically host it on Sunday to benefit them?”

Jefferson East is a major destination on one weekend each year.
However, every day, especially during the warm months, people come to
the riverside parks – 100 acres of public access to the Detroit River.
There is access to the water for fishermen, athletes and the disabled.
During prime time on the water, Bayview Yacht Club and two other private marinas draw boaters to over 800 slips. There is also a public boat launch in the area.

Greenway project

Even
before the weather turns warm, the basketball courts are occupied and
softball players are practicing on the ball diamonds of Maheras-Gentry Park, on Clairpointe between Jefferson and the river. Come June, hundreds of walkers converge on Alfred Brush Ford Park
on the riverfront for the local chapter of the American Cancer
Society’s “Relay for Life.” There are plans for the new Conner Creek
Greenway to extend from 8 Mile Road south to Maheras-Gentry Park. The
greenway is a project developed by members of the Detroit Eastside
Community Collaborative, a group of more than a dozen nonprofits
working to improve the east side. When completed, the Conner Creek
Greenway will stretch south from Eight Mile to the Detroit River and
trace the original Conner Creek. The project will involve the
construction of pedestrian and bike paths and will include plants,
flowers and historical markers.

For grocery shoppers, one of the area’s largest Farmer Jack
supermarkets is located in the Jefferson Village shopping center. It’s
a destination for everyone from downtown and living in neighborhoods
closer to I-94. In addition, the Jefferson Avenue Veterinary Hospital also treats animals brought in from the neighborhood and throughout Detroit.

If you build it, they will likely come to Jefferson East. Like the
mystery of the chicken and the egg, one day it just happens, as in
other more vibrant areas of the city. But it’s still early in the
neighborhood’s redevelopment cycle. Jefferson East is a place to come
for a moment of riverside tranquility and great fishing, to worship at
a church called Hope, to play ball, and at least once a year, to hear
great open-air music. It’s a real community, squarely placed between
the past and the future.

From the East:Take I-94 West to Outer Drive
Exit 222A toward Chalmers Ave. Turn left onto Outer Dr. East and stay
straight to go onto Alter Rd. Turn right onto Jefferson Ave East and
arrive in Jefferson East.

From the North:Take I-75 South and merge onto
I-94 via Exit 53B toward Port Huron. Take the Conner Ave Exit 220B
toward the City Airport. Keep right at the fork in the ramp and stay
straight to go onto Conner St until you come up to Jefferson Ave E.
Arrive in Jefferson East.

From the West:Take I-96 East and merge onto
I-94 via Exit 190A toward Port Huron. Take the Conner Ave Exit 220B
toward the City Airport. Keep right at the fork in the ramp and stay
straight to go onto Conner St until you come up to Jefferson Ave E.
Arrive in Jefferson East.

From the South:Take I-94 East toward Detroit.
Take the Conner Ave Exit 220B toward the City Airport. Keep right at
the fork in the ramp and stay straight to go onto Conner St until you
come up to Jefferson Ave E. Arrive in Jefferson East.

Take I-75 North toward Detroit to I-96 West via Exit 48 on the left
toward Lansing. Then merge onto I-94 East toward Port Huron. Take the
Conner Ave Exit 220B toward the City Airport. Keep right at the fork in
the ramp and stay straight to go onto Conner St until you come up to
Jefferson Ave E. Arrive in Jefferson East.